The civilian level of motivation to defend Austria in case of an invasion is shown to be rather low compared to other European countries, where only 15-30 % of the Austrian population say they are willing to defend the country. The use of civilian support in war has been shown as an important factor during the Russo-Ukrainian war, where thousands of volunteers joined the armed forces to defend their country. Using civilians as a part of the civil defense is also shown to have a powerful deterrent effect for a foreign invasion.
This study contributes to an in-depth understanding how Austrian officers’ and cadets’ motivation is affected by the low civilian level of motivation to defend the nation. This was done by collecting qualitative data by doing semi-structured interviews with four officers and four cadets, seven men and one woman. The results from the interviews were later analysed with a textual analysis to identify common themes and patterns.
The study shows that the motivation among the military personnel was not affected by a low civilian will to defend the country. A majority of the respondents also saw several risks with having a low support from the civil society. This could create challenges regarding securing personnel and maintaining a high moral among the troops during wartime.